There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 82

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* * *

“I adore you.”

Philomell blinked, waking up to the sunlight streaming through the window.

‘It wasn’t a dream.’

She recalled the previous night with a head still foggy with sleep.

Last night, Nasar confessed his feelings to Philomell.

“I don’t mean to ask for an answer right away. It’s just that I couldn’t bear to keep it inside any longer at this moment…”

He said that after the confession and returned home in the carriage.

He usually looked anxious, but at that moment, he was surprisingly calm. A pointless thought crossed her mind.

‘Come to think of it, the constant blushing wasn’t rosacea [a skin condition causing redness] after all.’

So, Nasar really did like me.

She actually knew it. From some point on, she had been thinking, ‘Could it be?’

She seemed to have noticed it when she realized that, unlike in , Nasar didn’t like Elencia.

Until then, she had thought that all the favors Nasar showed were out of a sense of duty as her fiancé and friendship as a friend.

Some of them were too much to simply dismiss as duty or friendship, though…….

Philomell’s life truth, , said it couldn’t be, so she assumed that was the case.

After noticing, she pretended not to know.

She thought Nasar might fall for Elencia at any moment, and even if he didn’t, Nasar was too strongly recognized as ‘Elencia’s man’ to Philomell.

And she had many other things to worry about. The truth of the book, Elencia, Eustis, Le Guin, Jeremiah, and so on…….

Even Rosanne occupied a larger part of Philomell’s mind than Nasar.

In the midst of those who made Philomell nervous, Nasar was… how should she put it?

He was a comfortable person who didn’t make her think too complicatedly when she was with him.

‘But now, that Nasar is the most 신경 쓰이지만 [most 신경 쓰이지만 (gyeong sseujiman) – a Korean expression meaning ‘bothersome’ or ‘worrisome’].’

Philomell looked at the bouquet on the bedside table.

New Philomell flowers.

“I guessed he would express his feelings clearly soon enough.”

The moment her vague suspicion turned into certainty was when she received those flowers from him as a birthday gift yesterday.

To think he would breed a flower that only blooms for one night in Utina in the first place. It couldn’t be done without great patience. Even if he had someone else do it, the cost would be enormous.

‘How could I not know when he gives me something like that as a birthday gift?’

What Philomell didn’t know was that he would confess that very day.

A confession that was excessively heavy, not ‘I like you’ or ‘I love you,’ but ‘I adore you.’

She wrapped her head in her arms.

“I have to do something.”

Philomell couldn’t accept his feelings.

Nasar said it was okay not to give an answer right away, but she couldn’t let him continue to harbor hopeless hope.

‘Okay. Let’s reject him. In a way that hurts as little as possible.’

But before that, there was an issue to deal with first.

Philomell had a meal, got dressed, and left the Southern Palace.

Her destination was the Imperial Palace.

She had to see Eustis right away.

* * *

The Emperor looked tired, probably because he had worked late yesterday.

“Philomell, did you have a good birthday party?”

Ah, now that she thought about it, this person didn’t send the Imperial Palace orchestra yesterday? She had been so preoccupied with various things that she had forgotten.

Philomell briefly expressed her gratitude and brought up the main point.

“Your Majesty. Please allow me to break off my engagement with Duke Nasar Averide.”

That’s right. Her engagement with Nasar was still in place.

She didn’t even know why.

In the book, it was clearly described that the engagement would automatically be broken off the moment it was revealed that Philomell was not a princess. But seeing as it didn’t work that way, it seemed that a specific procedure was required.

Engagement is a promise between families.

When breaking this promise, it was usually terminated after one side requested it and the families consulted.

So, in this case, either the Emperor or the Duke of Averide had to bring up the matter of breaking off the engagement first.

The Duke of Averide must be eager to break off the engagement by now.

‘He wouldn’t want to send his precious son to a woman he doesn’t even know.’

But so far, the Duke had not taken any particular action.

A vague guess was that Philomell’s status had not fallen to the bottom.

‘He must be hesitant to demand the annulment of the engagement as soon as it is revealed that she is supposedly a VIP.’

He would be waiting for the right time.

Philomell also waited for the Duke to take care of it. The problem was that it was taking too long. Unable to bear it any longer, she decided to take action herself.

But…….

Anger arose on the Emperor’s face. His voice was filled with rage.

“Why, did that little Averide bastard say he doesn’t want to marry you because you’re not my real daughter?”

“Yo, Your Majesty?”

“Or the older one? Tell me. Which one said that?”

Philomell was flustered.

‘Why is he so angry?’

It would be better for the Emperor to break off this engagement as well. There would be no good in having a strained relationship with a powerful meritorious family.

‘Could it be… is there a special reason why Eustis didn’t bring up the annulment first?’

Until now, she just thought he was too lazy or busy to bother.

Anyway, Philomell hurriedly denied it because she thought that if she left it alone, it would unnecessarily harm Nasar’s side.

“No! The Averide side didn’t ask for it. I just thought so.”

“Don’t cover for them. They must have coaxed you well, being a cunning old fox and his bloodline.”

“That’s not true. Do you think I’m someone who would be swayed by coaxing, Your Majesty?”

Fortunately, these words worked, and he was silent for a moment.

“……Is that the truth?”

“It’s the truth.”

“Why do you want to break off the engagement?”

“A son of a family like the Averide Dukedom cannot be tied to a commoner like me…….”

Eustis waved his hand.

“If that’s the reason, there’s no need to listen. I’ll take care of it, so you don’t have to worry.”

“But isn’t marriage between nobles supposed to be with someone of equal status?”

“I married the person I wanted to.”

Only a special romantic like you would do that! It’s not the norm!

“Even if I marry the Averide Duke, I don’t know how the Dukedom will treat me…….”

“Tell me if they show any displeasure. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but Your Majesty won’t be healthy forever…….”

“The Imperial Family has always had long lifespans, as long as they’re not murdered.”

A superficial reason wouldn’t work.

Philomell decided to just be honest.

“I don’t like the Averide heir. That’s why I want to break off the engagement.”

Then Eustis’s eyes widened. For him, who rarely expressed emotions, especially surprise, it meant he was very surprised.

He was someone who seemed calm even when Rosanne was talking about dancing.

“Lies.”

“It’s not a lie.”

“That can’t be.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“When you were young, you said you wouldn’t eat anything if I didn’t betroth you to that guy.”

Philomell swallowed her words.

‘……Did I do that?’

She didn’t remember.

She was only six years old when she got engaged to Nasar. She had relatively clear memories after she picked up the book at the age of nine, but before that, it was vague.

Eustis continued.

“You came into the meeting, lay down on the floor, and said you wouldn’t get up until I betrothed you to him.”

……Even during a meeting?

In her memory, she had just been a little stubborn.

But it didn’t end there.

“When I tried to go somewhere else, you cried and grabbed my ankle to stop me.”

Philomell felt like she wanted to hide in a rat hole because of her embarrassing past. If she could go back to the past, she wanted to hit her younger self.

‘More than that, why does this human remember it in such detail?’

It was embarrassing.

“And also…….”

“You can stop now!”

Philomell slammed the desk to stop the Emperor from speaking.

‘Oops, what am I doing?’

But she quickly came to her senses and cleared her throat.

“Anyway, that was when I was six years old, and my heart has changed since then. Your Majesty, the affection you had for someone of the opposite sex at that age didn’t last a lifetime, did it? You know.”

“……I don’t really know, but if you say so, then that must be the case.”

Eustis seemed to have understood, although he looked somewhat unconvinced.

“Okay. I will order Averide to break off the engagement.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Philomell returned to her residence after achieving what she wanted.